More than 220 members of communities surrounding Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield attended Monday’s community listening session at Club Stewart, with most responding to rumors that the installation could lose up to 8,000 soldiers.
Elected and business leaders from Liberty, Long, Bryan and Chatham Counties heard three possible scenarios about changes to the force structure at Stewart-Hunter and provided input to the Army’s Programmatic Environmental Assessment for its force-structure realignment.
The event was led by Brig. Gen. John Hort, 3rd Infantry Division deputy commanding general-rear, and Col. Kevin Gregory, U.S. Army garrison commander for Stewart-Hunter.
Hort began the session by telling guests what the event was not about.
“This is not about (Base Realignment and Closure) or sequestration,” he said. “It’s about force restructure.”
Hort said the Army is mandated to reduce its active force by 80,000 troops by the end of fiscal year 2017. The 2010 high of about 570,000 active-duty soldiers would be reduced to about 490,000. He said that will reduce the Army’s 45 combat brigades to 37.

Read more in the April 27 edition of the News.